Non-compete covenants are widely used in employment contracts to promote employee stability. Using legal amendments of non-compete enforceability as a natural experiment, we find that as non-compete enforceability increases, firms display an increased likelihood of meeting short-term earnings...

This study examines the relation between the scale and scope of an individual auditor's client portfolio and audit pricing to better understand how auditors of heterogeneous characteristics are differentiated in the audit market. Using a sample from the Chinese market for the period 2001-2010,...

We seek evidence of a link between accruals-based earnings quality (EQ) and cost of capital by examining two classes of shares traded in China's segregated markets during 1995-2000. The A- and B-shares introduced respectively for domestic and foreign investors carry identical cash flow rights,...

We examine the role that individual auditors' social capital plays in their audit quality, client acquisition activities, and career advancement. Our analysis focuses on social capital stemming from educational ties, as measured by the size of an auditor's university alumni network among those...

This study examines the usefulness of analysts’ book value forecasts and the economic factors driving analysts’ issuance of these forecasts. Guided by the real-options-based valuation model (ROM) of Zhang (2000), we explicitly link book value forecasts to the need for such information in...

Francis and Michas (2013) discover that the occurrence of an audit failure actually signals a more systematic problem with audit quality at the affected office. Using the Chinese setting where the identities of engagement auditors are revealed in audit reports, this study further explores...

This study develops an accounting-based valuation model in a setting where firms have the flexibility to expand or discontinue operations (real options). The model is used to examine the role of accounting earnings and book value in equity valuation and to explore cross-sectional differences in...

This paper examines the effect of capital structure on investment decisions when the firm is controlled by a large, risk-averse shareholder. Because of under-diversification, the controlling shareholder is more averse to risky projects than other shareholders whose portfolios are fully...

This study examines the market valuation of accounting earnings during the period before it is publicly revealed that the earnings are fraudulent. Using both cross-sectional and time-series valuation models, we first find that the market accords less weight to earnings when the accounting...

This paper shows that managerial insider trading, suitably regulated, reduces information asymmetry and helps shareholders better screen corporate decisions. In a setting where a firm's manager has private information about potential projects and his preferences differ from those of...